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Instagram Inspiration

Instagram is a fantastic platform to discover how design is changing and trending around the world. My Instagram feed is full of a combination of fellow artists here in New Zealand and around the world. Seeing their work is great motivation and inspiration — the modern design book. Here are three stationers from the US that I follow.

1Canoe2 – based out of a fantastic barn in Missouri the company has a wholesome American vibe with their combination of letterpress and painted designs.

Lucy Mail is my latest find on Instagram – based out of Brooklyn, New York. Who wouldn’t love receiving a letter like this in the post amongst a pile of bills.

The Paper Cub is a studio that focuses on design, in-house screen-printing and paper goods. They are located in sunny Winter Park, Florida. The idea came for this new brand came when they wanted to expand their sister brand Sass&Peril.

To find out what we’re up to in our design studio and some behind the scenes shots (warning may contain cute kitty photos) — click here.

Sale on Now

Happy Friday everyone! We had a fantastic time away in Hawaii the last two weeks and are still adjusting to these colder temperatures!

With the holiday season on the horizon (ok maybe still 167 days to go) we need to make room in the warehouse for our awesome new designs. What does that mean for you - SALE time!

Head on over to our website and check out all the products reduced between 30-60% off the original price! 

Click HERE to view all the products in our sale section.

What a year!

Wow what a way to end the year! Thank you to everyone who entered our 3k like giveaway we had some lovely entries but unfotuntaely only one person can win. Congratulations to: SARAH JANE HOUGH Please email us to claim your lovely prize! We have 2 markets left before Christmas break this year: Saturday: Tauranga Christmas in the Park, 2:00 – 9:30pm, Blake Park Sunday: Rototuna Market, 10:00am – 2:00pm, 85 Barrington Drive With the weather being so fickle this week we highly recommend that you check on social media to make sure that these events are still on before attending. Our online shops are also open until Monday! All of our products are couriered around New Zealand, now we cannot guarantee that they arrive before the big day but they should be there 1-3 days after ordering...The online shops will be taking a wee holiday along with us for the week of Christmas. This means that all orders place between 23 - 28 December will be posted on Monday, 29 December. Thank you all again for a fantastic year and have a great holiday!

The Ultimate NZ Giveaway

We have put together for you the Ultimate NZ giveaway! As a thank you for reaching so many amazing milestones earlier this month we've contacted some fantastic local NZ business to see if they wanted to help promote small business in NZ. One lucky person will win this EVERYTHING in this ultimate giveaway which includes:

• Punch fear in the face shield - Ginger & Jack
• 2015 Daily Planner - Toodles Noodles
• Custom rhino artwork - The Humble Heart
• An assortment of Bakers Twine - Pop Roc Parties
• Delicious custom blend muesli- The Muesli Hub
• 2 fun notebooks - FRANK Stationery
• Ceramic Kereru - Borrowed Earth
• Decorative wall tiles - Tikitibu
• Favour bags and tags - Wink
• Pohutukawa cushion - Moth
• Dream Believer pillow set - elephantandbird
• Succulent kokedama - Pickled Whimsy

Simply click on the link to enter, bonus entries for sharing and liking all our amazing collaborators Facebook Pages. 

Be sure to get your entries in, giveaway closes in 7 days.  Check out the images below and check out these awesome businesses! And thank you so much to them all. [caption id="attachment_2539" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Shield by Ginger & Jack | Succulent Kokedama by Pickled Whimsy[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2540" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Kerukeru by Borrowed Earth[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2541" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Rhino wall art by The Humble Heart | notebooks by FRANK Stationery[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2542" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Custom pack of muesli by The Muesli Hub[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2543" align="aligncenter" width="700"] 2015 Daily Planner by Toodles Noodles | Assortment of bakers twine by Pop Roc Parties[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2544" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Wall art tiles by Tikitibu[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2545" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Pohutukawa Cushion by Moth | Favour packets by Wink[/caption] [caption id="attachment_2546" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Dream Believer pillow set by elephantandbird[/caption]

San Francisco

I am super excited to be going home to California next month - it's the first time I've been back in over two years! I will be away for a little over 3 weeks spending time at home in Palo Alto and also seeing some family in Los Angeles (with a cheeky trip to Disneyland!). While over there I'm looking forward to spending time with family and friends, eating way too much food, and of course shopping. But I am also looking forward to going to some amazing US stationery stores! For example this amazing collection of SF inspired stationery comes from the talented Audrey of Urbanic Paper in LA. Look out California, here I come! 1. Mapnote; 2. Paper Parasol Press Postcard; 3. Hello! Lucky Skyline Note; 4. Lark Press Heart in SF note; 5. Birite Creamery Book; 6. SF City Guide; 7. Tartine Cookbooks; 8. Cavallini Rubber Stamps; 9. Jim Datz print; 10. Ilee Papergoods city cards; 11. Dandelion Chocolate; 12. Albert + Marie SF Poster; 13. Maptote Pouch; 14. Cavallini Eraser

Nothing over two dollars

Say what?! That's right - this weekend at the Little Big Markets we'll be having a MASSIVE sale with nothing over $2! Our sale table will include end of line items, designs that never made it to the store, and a few 'preloved' pieces.  Of course apart from the big sale table we'll be selling all our regular items including things from the new Adventure Range. So make sure to bring those coins as you won't want to miss this sale!

For the love of stationery

This week I wrote a wee article for the Design Assembly on the topic of stationery. As designers and artists two things that are quite close to our hearts are coffee and good stationery. Being in the stationery industry myself, I am a big advocate for high quality, well designed, functional products. Personally, I cannot live without A5 notepads (I have multiple lists going on at once), my Moleskine notebook, and my favourite Pilot pen! Click here to read the whole store and see the top picks of three local New Zealand artists and what products they can’t live without.

Emily McDowell

Emily McDowell is an illustrator, hand-letterer, designer, and writer who lives in Los Angeles. Her story on how she started her own stationery line is extremely inspirational for anyone out there with a 'dream'. After spending nearly a decade working as an advertising art director, writer and creative director, Emily decided to quit her full-time agency job at the beginning of 2011. At the time, she didn't know what exactly she wanted to do, but she knew she needed to try to figure it out. She started with going back to what she most loved to do as a kid - drawing - specifically, lettering — and writing stories.

She started posting her images on her personal Facebook page and after receiving requests from people to purchase them so she thought of opening an Etsy shop. The shop grew, she made a website, and started doing commissioned illustration work in between freelance advertising jobs. She always wanted to have a card line, but had talked herself out of it until January 2013, when she decided to do an experiment. She had 100 copies of one Valentine card she’d written, she put it in her Etsy shop, not knowing what would happen, figuring she’d sell a few. Etsy put it on their Facebook page, and it went viral. Emily shipped over 1,600 individual copies of that card to customers in 8 days. From this experience she decided to create her own stationery line and in May of 2013 she launched a line of 45 cards at the National Stationery Show.

To see more of Emily's work and learn more about her story and work precess make sure to check out her website: www.emilymcdowell.com

Weekly Roundup 6 September

A very happy Friday to everyone! This week has just been a blur with the Gift Fair and meeting so many great vendors! We have some amazing new stockists on board from all around New Zealand and will be updating our stockists list as we go. Everyone seemed really excited about our special, limited edition 'gold and black' stay awesome tote bag! If you are interested in acquiring one of these fun totes for yourself please email us and we can make sure you get on the preorder list! I promise to post pictures from the trade show, new summer tea towels and some yummy baking recipes soon - so stay tuned. In the mean time I hope you enjoy this black and gold inspired roundup!

1. Tiered Lukas Pendant, online exclusive at Anthropologie
2. Fun sparkly stationery supplies from Inkkit
3. Saw so many amazing Meadowlark cocktail rings this week - want!
4. Make a statement with this geometric gold necklace.
5. Our limited edition 'gold and black' stay awesome tote (order yours today!)
6. Great everyday card by the talented Rifle Paper Co.
7. Wish these sparkly shoes came in my size!
8. Currently sporting this fun nail polish, great for parties.

National Stationery Show - Booths

This week is the annual National Stationery Show held in New York at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The show runs for four full days where amazingly talented stationers show off their beautiful products. Apart from looking at all the stunning work, I am always fascinated on how amazing their expo booths look! The amount of construction and thought process that goes into their booths is just spectacular! After doing the NZ Gift Fair this past March I am always looking for inspiration on how to design my next booth for this coming September. These images sure do get the creative juices going... To keep up with what's going on this year at NSS we recommend following these lovely blogs: Parcel Post Poppytalk Oh So Beautiful Paper and of course searching #nss via Instagram.  

Images kindly grabbed from www.instagram.com #nss